Govt: call girl client wrecked company

LONDON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A top British business executive who allegedly bankrupted his company to pay for sex faces legal charges now that 170 employees are out of work.

Peter Lee, 51, is accused of bankrupting Durham Travel Services to pay for $1,900-per-night visits with "Sultry Tia," whose Web site warns that clients could become "addicted," the Daily Mirror reported Friday.

Between 1998 and 2002 Lee is accused of draining $937,000 from the company to get gifts for and enjoy travel with Sultry Tia. Officials say he bought her a $57,000 BMW and bedroom furnishings and took her on exotic vacations to Bali.

The $237,500-a-year managing director also kept two mistresses. One became pregnant with his child.

Lee was outed in an audit in the summer of 2002. Police were called in and soon after the firm went into liquidation, with 170 workers being dismissed.

When his wife Ann discovered his double life last year, she moved out of their home in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, with their children.

"He was obsessed with Tia and kept on dipping into the accounts to pay for his fantasies," said a colleague. "He's ruined and he could go to jail."